Police: Local man assaulted at polling place
Last edited Mon Nov 16, 2020, 06:12 AM - Edit history (1)
QUEENSBURY — Police have arrested a local man and charged him with assault in an attack Tuesday at a polling place.
Robert J. Hogan, 57, of Queensbury, was charged with third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, for grabbing another man by the head and kneeing him in the head, Warren County Undersheriff Terry Comeau said.
Comeau said Dylan Hafner of Queensbury, the victim of the assault, was either touching or removing at least one sign from across the street at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post.
Comeau said it was not clear whether Hafner had picked up one or more signs.
“After the assault, the gentleman went into vote, came back out and was taken into custody,” Comeau said of Hogan.
Reached later Tuesday, Hafner said he was attacked outside a polling place for picking up one of U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik’s election signs.
The incident happened at around 10 a.m. at the corner of Luzerne Road and Veterans Road across from the West Glens Falls Fire Department polling place. Hafner said he saw a Stefanik sign that was tipped over and he was under the impression it was abandoned property.
“I don’t like garbage on the side of the road,” he said.
He figured it would need to come down anyway, since it was Election Day.
Hafner said he went to throw the sign in his car. At that point, a man driving by pulled over to the side of the road next to his car, swore at him and yelled, “Who are you?”
Hafner asked him if it was his sign and said he would give it to him. Then, Hafner said, the man attacked him.
More (Includes video): https://poststar.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/police-local-man-assaulted-at-polling-place/article_e6c12558-d680-5f24-b754-6fe73404bc79.html
Note: I realize that this isn't a brand new story, but I was shocked when I read it since this happened at my polling place! 
= new reply since forum marked as read
We read about all these violent incidents coming from Trump/Republican supporters, but it's pretty scary to learn that they're now happening to close so to home! The guy lost it because someone picked up a fallen Stefanik sign! It's not like there weren't rows of them on every local street before the election - despite all the protests that have been happening since her first term, and she's gotten worse each time, she told us all we needed to know when she showed up on national TV with Gym Jordan during the impeachment hearings. 
She's gone from not publicizing her schedule to avoid the inevitable protests that follow her and avoiding town halls, to supporting Trump on national TV! And how she keeps getting reelected is beyond me since there have been regular protests since her first term - and the recent ones have been pretty impressive for a small town, a few hundred in the last one I attended! 
In 2016 it was pretty busy, had to wait a few minutes to put my ballot into the machine, which I thought was a good sign! But this time there was an actual line around the building - and there were snow flurries! I intended to do Early Voting, but both times that I drove by there was a really long line and it was pouring rain, so instead I went first thing on Election Day, the actual end of the day for me! LOL. And since this comprised only my voting district instead of the entire county, I had high hopes - though I was hoping that the crowd was a good sign this time!
When I got there:
The lines were actually much longer both of the times I checked up at the county building, plus it was pouring rain, much of the crowd had umbrellas. So I finally figured that I'd do better at my usual polling place (fire house) since it wouldn't be the entire county waiting, just those in my voting district. But apparently they all had the same idea I did, I stayed up and went first thing - to avoid the crowds! But they did a good job and it actually did move fairly fast.
That's why I was so shocked to read this - everybody wears masks, even the protest of Trump's policy to separate and lock up immigrant children was civil, though only a handful of MAGA individuals showed up, mainly one loud guy with an oversized flag and a megaphone. *sigh*
And the line to vote, if you notice, was quiet and orderly, nobody even said a word to me until I got inside and the poll workers were all friendly and well organized. But all it took was one discarded Stefanik sign... 